The World Chess Team Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk have come to a close.

Open Team Championship

This was only decided in the last round. After Round 8, the Chinese team were in the lead, with Russia trailing by one point. In the concluding round China defeated Poland 2.5 to 1.5 and became World Team Champions for the second time in a row. Russia took the Silver medals and Poland the Bronze Medals.

The Russian ladies had practically secured gold for themselves before the final round; all they had to do to become champions was to draw a single game against Ukraine. In fact they won 3 to 1 and so easily became Women’s World Team Champions. China took the Silver medals and Georgia the Bronze Medals.

India defeated team USA by a big score (the winners were Baskaran Adhiban, Krishnan Sasikiran and Parimarjan Negi, while Santosh Vidit drew).

After four rounds the leaders are Russia and China with 7 match points each; Turkey and Poland trail by one step.

The winner of the pivotal confrontation Georgia vs. Russia was the “home team” with the score 2.5 to 1.5. Scorers were Alexandra Kosteniuk and Ekaterina Lagno, Aleksandra Goryachkina drew and Valentina Gunina lost her game.

The second round of the Team World Championships took place in Khanty-Mansiysk on June 18.

The guest of honor of this round was the Governor of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra Natalya Komarova who, together with FIDE Vice-President Javier Ochoa, gave a start to the women’s match between Russia and Vietnam. After that the head of the Okrug made the first symbolic move in the game Svidler – Solak (Russia vs. Turkey match).

Following that, the Governor of Ugra Natalya Komarova, President of the Russian Chess Federation, FIDE Vice-President Andrey Filatov, President of Ugra Chess Federation Vasily Filipenko and Director of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra Igor Gubkin visited the rapid chess tournament held as part of the World Championships.

In the men’s event team China defeated India 2.5 to 1.5. The scorer for the winners was Yu Yangyi.

The USA lost to Poland by a hair. The winning point was supplied by Radoslaw Wojtaszek who beat Samuel Shankland on the first board.

Norway won against Egypt 2.5 to 1.5 (Frode Urkedal and Johan Salomon won their games, Aryan Tari drew and Lars Hauge lost).

Matches Russia vs. Turkey and Belarus vs. Ukraine were both tied.

After two rounds the leaders are China and Poland. Both teams have 4 match points with Russia trailing by a point.

In the women’s tournament Russian team beat Vietnam 3:1. The winners were Valentina Gunina and Aleksandra Goryachkina.

Match Ukraine vs. China was tied: Natalia Zhukova’s loss to the World Champion Tan Zhongyi on the second board was balanced out by Inna Gaponenko’s win against Lei Tingjie on the third.

Georgia and Poland were also tied; all the games were scored.

Team India defeated the USA 2.5 to 1.5; the scorer was Tania Suchdev who beat Sabina-Francesca Foisor.

Azerbaijan zipped Egypt 4:0.

After two rounds the Russian team scored maximum number of points with Poland, India and Ukraine trailing by a match point.

Round 1 of FIDE World Chess Team Championships was played on June 17 in Khanty-Mansiysk.

A surprising result in the men’s tournament was a draw in the match Turkey vs. Ukraine. In the pivotal confrontation Russian ladies defeated team China.

The first symbolic move in the starting round of the Women’s Team Championship was made on Alexandra Kosteniuk’s behalf by the Deputy Governor of Ugra Mr. Vsevolod Koltsov. A similar “pawn face-off” in the game between Ian Nepomniachtchi and the Egyptian chess player Hesham Abdelrahman was jointly made by President of Ugra Chess Federation Vasily Filipenko and FIDE Vice-President Javier Ochoa.

In the men’s tournament team, Russia defeated Egypt 3.5 to 0.5. Scorers were Nikita Vitiugov, Maxim Matlakov and Vladimir Fedoseev; the game between Hesham and Nepomniachtchi was drawn.

Team China defeated Belarus with the same score (Yu Yangyi, Wei Yi and Li Chao won their games, and Ding Liren drew against Sergey Zhigalko).

Varuzhan Akobian’s victory on the third board helped team USA beat Norway 2.5 to 1.5.

Poland defeated Indian team by a hair (Yan Krzysztof Duda and Kacper Piorun scored for them, Radoslaw Wojtaszek lost and Mateusz Bartel drew).

A surprise of the start was a draw in the match Turkey vs. Ukraine: all four games were drawn.

In the pivotal match of the women’s championship Russia beat China 3 to 1. Alexandra Kosteniuk, Kateryna Lagno and Valentina Gunina scored, and Olga Girya lost her game.

Team Ukraine defeated USA 2.5 to 1.5 (the winning point was supplied by Iulija Osmak on the 4th board).

Polish ladies won their match against Azerbaijan by a big score. The winners for Poland were Monika Socko, Klaudia Kulon and Joanna Majdan.

Team Vietnam defeated Egypt four to nothing.

Match India vs. Georgia was drawn. First and fourth boards exchanged blows: Harika Dronavalli won her game against Nana Dzagnidze and Nino Batsiashvili defeated Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman.

The Opening Ceremony for FIDE Open and Women’s World Team Chess Championships took place in the capital of Ugra. For the first time in the history of chess, both events will be held at the same time and in the same place from June 16 to June 27, 2017.

Grand opening ceremony was staged in the CTC “Ugra-Classic” that is already familiar to many chessplayers.

The official part of the event was opened by Governor of Ugra Ms. Natalya Komarova. First of all, the Head of the region read out the welcome letter of the President of Russian Federation. Siding with Vladimir Putin, she shared the people of Ugra’s feelings about this event: “We host a chess tournament of this level for the first time. The integration of two championships creates fantastic good vibrations for participants, supporters and organizers. We are grateful to FIDE for this decision. I think that you are going to be surprised with our summer that is much warmer than in many European cities of our country. I hope that you will manage to surprise us, your fans, with new combinations, brilliant moves and fine play. Let the strongest win! Welcome to Ugra!”

FIDE Vice-President Boris Kutin also greeted all the teams and their supporters: “I am simply very pleased to say the words “Welcome to Khanty-Mansiysk” because I have already lost count of my visits here. This is a small city with a great heart! Khanty-Mansiysk is a number one city in the world of chess!"

President of the Russian Chess Federation, FIDE Vice-President Andrey Filatov expressed his gratitude to FIDE, Ugra and personally to Natalya Komarova: “Thank you ever so much! I agree with my colleague Mr. Kutin, for Khanty-Mansiysk is a great heart indeed. Thank you for your hospitality and all this cordiality we have already felt!” Boris Kutin pronounced main words of the night: “I declare the FIDE World Chess Team Championships open!”

A final and most expected moment of the official part was tournament pairing. Actors dressed as shamans of indigenous northern peoples in the course of their mystical dance have passed their main attributes, 10 shaman drums where the numbers were hidden, to other actors dressed as pawns. Then those souls of chess, as chess theoretician François-André Philidor used to call them, stood in line waiting to be chosen by a representative of a participating team. The number on the national musical instrument indicated the team’s position in the tournament table.